or 35 years Abelson Taylor
has steadily added medical
brands, large and small, to
its roster. But executives
say never has the agency
seen such an avalanche of new business
and new brands as it did in 2015.

F

ACCOUNTSAccount winsActive business clients

25
22

Leaders contend 2015 was a spectacular year for independent agency AbelsonTaylor. Revenue rose more than 13 percent as Abelson Taylor added 25 agency
of record brands to the roster, making
it AOR for 70 brands from 22 clients.
Abelson Taylor added new services, hired
128 new people, completed more than
1,000 new digital, social and broadcast
projects, launched four new brands, and
created 13 new campaigns. New brands
won or awarded during 2015 will generate more than $40 million in revenue
by the end of this year (and executives
point out that the revenue from just new
brands alone comprises almost as much
as that of any single Category 1 agency).

Brand-product accounts held 70
$25 million or less 11
$25 million – $50 million 15
$50 million – $100 million 9
$100 million – $500 million 8
$500 million to $1 billion 7
$1 billion or more 5
Products not yet approved/launched 12

on real day-to-day performance, not the
smoke and mirrors of a pitch, executives
say. But their pitches worked very well
too: the agency took part in nine full-scale
pitches in 2015 and won five of them.

The year’s accomplishments

Of the 25 new brands, 20 came without
a pitch. The agency is especially proud of
these wins because they are emblematic
of the trust it has built among current
and past clients. These brands were won

The biggest single win of the year
was the assignment of 11 brands from a
single company. Dale Taylor, the agency’s CEO, says, “In 2016 Abelson Taylor
secured AOR status for the entire U.S.
portfolio of CSL Behring’s brands. The
agency is incredibly excited to partner
with this important $5.5 billion global
player in the rare disease space.”

Eleven of the new brands are in the

hot rare disease category and four are in
oncology. Abelson Taylor is now AOR for
six oncology brands, with both U.S. and
global responsibilities. Oncology has long
been a concentration of the agency, which
has launched or promoted 26 brands
in this technically challenging market.
The agency won four key assignments
in the growing immuno-oncology space
with global and U.S. responsibilities and
won two more brands in the respiratory
category from a market-leading client,
so that it now represents all the brands
in the client’s franchise. Two important
brands in the cystic fibrosis market were